tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post4617297175548962358..comments2024-03-26T03:52:23.395-07:00Comments on Housing Analysis: About Mohicanmohicanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06094213357140749289noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post-86660889465750629582007-10-08T10:12:00.000-07:002007-10-08T10:12:00.000-07:00Hi M;I have “tagged you”, I know you are not often...Hi M;<BR/><BR/>I have “tagged you”, I know you are not often into these kinds of things but I think you could have fun looking at it from your perspective.<BR/><BR/>Here is the link to the article with the tag:<BR/><BR/>http://lifeontheblade.blogspot.com/2007/10/art-of-blogging-lifestyle-and-god.htmlLivingswordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10619320099363943460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post-50961325957935646842007-09-26T22:41:00.000-07:002007-09-26T22:41:00.000-07:00Hello! I was surfing online trying to find an affo...Hello! I was surfing online trying to find an affordable condo and I clicked on over here from condohype.com. <BR/><BR/>I really enjoy reading your blog knowing that I'm not the only one trying to avoid going crazy in this real estate market and feeling that the sky high prices are unsupported by any real value. I am currently in the telecommunications industry and am a new Christian and feel that I can identify with you in that strength to find the stewardship of life is from Above. <BR/><BR/>With that in mind I am currently reevaluating certain financial decisions that are causing me some sleepless nights. My current financial advisor/insurance salesperson sold me all the insurance policies under the sun, CI, DI, UL. and a leveraged investment/loan mutual fund. And they are all based on the same mutual fund. I was reluctant to do this since I thought "aren't all my eggs in one basket?" <BR/><BR/>I am thinking of going to term life policy instead of the Universal and am thinking about having a more diverse portfolio (is being invested fully one mutual fund for all these insurance products a good way to go? or is it more convenient /prosperous for my current advisor this way. (by the way I'm single and renting, do i need all that coverage?). I also use edjones to do some stuff for me, and vancity.. but anyhow, I could rant on and on... I used to be able to save 10-20% in a savings account biweekly @3.5%-4% and put 18% annually into my rrsps and now i feel like i'm living paycheck to paycheck...and i wanted to stop renting and buy a place...*yikes!<BR/><BR/>I look forward to more of your blog for financial sanity and personal planning =)Lennhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12699996102842761876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post-49303800197751427842007-09-20T11:02:00.000-07:002007-09-20T11:02:00.000-07:00Long time lurker and very occasional commenter her...Long time lurker and very occasional commenter here, I very much appreciate your excellent blog and loved this article. It helps a lot to have a better understanding of “what makes you tick”. It matters what foundations, concepts, ideas and character are built upon.Livingswordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10619320099363943460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post-34806980488214853092007-09-20T06:30:00.000-07:002007-09-20T06:30:00.000-07:00"My parents were in the same boat with him and inv..."My parents were in the same boat with him and invested 200,000, there are still waiting to break even and sell."<BR/><BR/>I am utterly amazed at how routinely I read in the news about people signing over huge wads of cash (often life savings) to financial planners/advisor/broker or what have you, and losing it. Said planner, investor, , as their advisor is either a fraud artist, or just merely incompetent. While I might use an advisor for advice, I prefer to do my investing on my own. That way, if things blow up, I know who made the mistake. <BR/><BR/>I just cannot grasp showing up at somebody's office and writing a big cheque, saying "go on, make me money." Someone will likely make money, but it may not be who you think....Clarkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01598503256501613406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post-25560036665227217022007-09-19T20:20:00.000-07:002007-09-19T20:20:00.000-07:00Until recently PHN didn't pay kickbacks to financi...<B>Until recently PHN didn't pay kickbacks to financial planners, instead choosing to keep their MER as low as possible. Consequently they were never recommended by financial planners and you pretty much had to buy them direct. </B><BR/><BR/>Unfortunately that is the way this racket works. I would think a financial planner would have an obligation to point clients in the direction that is optimal for them (the client), not the advisors wallet. I totally agree with Mohican. The convoluted way of remunerating financial planners leads to this. Of course, if people could choose between a planner who is "free" versus one who charges by the hour, he'd choose the "free" one and could end up paying triple the MER's as well as a front end fee.<BR/><BR/>When my son was born a few years ago, my wife started getting calls from a lady (who ever sold us to a mailinglis should b sued) who wanted to meet to set up an RESP. As you know maternal hormones do their thing, and my normally very financially astute wife was ready to meet this lady for lunch. I intercepted, did some research and found out that it was a pooled RESP with criminal front end commission fees. Commons sense tells me that people don't call cold an meet strangers over lunch without hefty commission fees to be gained. Junior is now hooked up with the e-funds. The funny things is that I probably know more about the nitty gritty of investments that this lady ever will, I just needed to read up on RESP's which took about an hour and change.freakohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06236681769619303395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post-63629158458695601842007-09-19T16:40:00.000-07:002007-09-19T16:40:00.000-07:00Losing money is a great motivator to get educated....Losing money is a great motivator to get educated. As the old saying goes, nobody cares about your financial well-being as much as you.<BR/><BR/>As far as what to do with your money, right now I have less than $5000 in an ING savings account for short-term emergencies, a bunch in GICs (I made the mistake of putting $10,000 in an ING 1 year GIC at 4% back in January, before I knew about buying through a brokerage), and some longer-term money in mutual funds at Phillips Hager and North.<BR/><BR/>Until recently PHN didn't pay kickbacks to financial planners, instead choosing to keep their MER as low as possible. Consequently they were never recommended by financial planners and you pretty much had to buy them direct. They now offer a version of their funds through resellers which has a .5% higher MER, which is paid to the reseller.Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10104704096049638272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post-1091291444818900072007-09-19T16:10:00.000-07:002007-09-19T16:10:00.000-07:00Yes, that is what I meant, the TD e-funds have MER...<B>Yes, that is what I meant, the TD e-funds have MER's of 0.31% for domestic equity index funds.</B><BR/><BR/>Wow...that is LOWWWW.WoodenHorsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06906672025305485148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post-55669802558579573042007-09-19T13:05:00.000-07:002007-09-19T13:05:00.000-07:00"How do yoy find a financial planner that is looki..."How do yoy find a financial planner that is looking out for your interest an not his. this is the same scenario I have with Realtors. No offence Mohican I am not comparing you to my friend."<BR/><BR/>None taken. I agree that it is tremendously difficult to find someone suitable. I think this mostly has to do with how our industry is setup rather than the people involved. Bless their hearts, but most of my current and former co-workers fall into the category you are talking about. <BR/><BR/>For example, I would prefer that I be paid for writing a financial plan and a modest investment management fee that was transparent and negotiable rather than the convoluted MER / trailer fee system we currently work under. Until the industry sees a major customer backlash toward the current setup it won't change. Witness the dominance of Investors Group, largest fund company in the country, for how ignorant the large majority of clients are to the fees they pay. I constantly hear that it is all about the client relationship, this is true but does not give MF companies the right to charge criminal fees for doing some fairly simple investment management.mohicanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06094213357140749289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post-37540517884904516312007-09-19T12:35:00.000-07:002007-09-19T12:35:00.000-07:00Thanks FreakoSo is it better to stay the course at...Thanks Freako<BR/><BR/>So is it better to stay the course at let's 4% and keep investing money monthly. I lost a lot of money in 2000. I was saving for a home and a friend of mine is a financial planner. He suggested I put all my money in mutual funds. He knew I was looking for short investment, less than a year. I lost around 15% of my investment. I found out later, from other friends that he makes a bigger commssion on certain funds then others. I have been gun shy ever since. I am not saying I was duped but I really don't know. My parents were in the same boat with him and invested 200,000, there are still waiting to break even and sell. How do yoy find a financial planner that is looking out for your interest an not his. this is the same scenario I have with Realtors. No offence Mohican I am not comparing you to my friend.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17805237811069377808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post-26595131129261037512007-09-19T11:27:00.000-07:002007-09-19T11:27:00.000-07:00My business professor says that I should be gattin...<B>My business professor says that I should be gatting a high rate of return on my investments. Somewhere close to 8%.</B><BR/><BR/>It is not possible to achieve 8% without exposing yourself to risk. You would need to be 100% in equities in order to achieve that. If you are young that may not be a bad idea. But there are some caveats. Market timing is extremely tricky (and costly) business, but I don't think the situation will be rosy going forward, so you may want to claw that back.<BR/><BR/>In any case, unless there are cataclysmic events in the future, taking on the risks of equities and moderately leverage real estate would be very safe if you have a long time horizon.freakohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06236681769619303395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post-59595286544579105892007-09-19T11:22:00.000-07:002007-09-19T11:22:00.000-07:00What about some of the index based ETFs? Many of t...<B>What about some of the index based ETFs? Many of them have MERs less than .5%</B><BR/><BR/>Yes, that is what I meant, the TD e-funds have MER's of 0.31% for domestic equity index funds.freakohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06236681769619303395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post-8993337317971634042007-09-19T09:44:00.000-07:002007-09-19T09:44:00.000-07:00My business professor says that I should be gattin...My business professor says that I should be gatting a high rate of return on my investments. Somewhere close to 8%.<BR/>I have my money invested in term deposits at 4%. I have also found at 3.75% daily savings investment rate at vancity.<BR/>My question is where do I invest without taking a lot of risk to earn these knid of numbers?Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17805237811069377808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post-23947819165147802722007-09-19T09:41:00.000-07:002007-09-19T09:41:00.000-07:00On the topic of savings and investing conservative...On the topic of savings and investing conservatively, for those of you who don't know you can get a higher interest rate on GICs by opening an account with a brokerage firm - TD Waterhouse, RBC Dominion Securities, etc. The brokerage firms take a smaller spread on GICs than the banks do and you have more selection.<BR/><BR/>For example I have access to a 30 day GIC that pays 4.76% today.<BR/><BR/>On the topic of mutual funds, TD e-funds have extremely low fees and so do ETFs (ishares). All of the big banks have decent funds that are not part of their Fund fo Fund programs. These FoF programs typically have high fees and honestly don't add much to a portfolio. I would suggest when building a portfolio you discover what you risk tolerance and asset allocation should be (lets say its balanced at 40% fixed income, 60% equity) and then pick a good canadian dividend fund (25-30% of total) from your bank for your canadian content, then choose a global dividend or value fund (30-35% of total), then choose a decent bond fund, GIC or both for your fixed income portion.<BR/><BR/>Building a portfolio does not have to be complicated and you can get decent performance from the portfolio I mentioned above.mohicanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06094213357140749289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post-47766996230422110072007-09-19T09:11:00.000-07:002007-09-19T09:11:00.000-07:00mohican and freako: What about some of the index b...mohican and freako: What about some of the index based ETFs? Many of them have MERs less than .5%WoodenHorsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06906672025305485148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post-29992867096871209302007-09-19T08:50:00.000-07:002007-09-19T08:50:00.000-07:00Slopist,I locked in a lage chunk of my cash for on...Slopist,<BR/>I locked in a lage chunk of my cash for one year yesterday @ 4.89% (GIC) with RBC Dominion securities. Just tell your banker that you want to get the same rate as GICDirect.ca is offering.mightymousehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05559963346043610318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post-572500079984183342007-09-19T08:47:00.000-07:002007-09-19T08:47:00.000-07:00Management Expense Ratio. Basically the amount a ...Management Expense Ratio. Basically the amount a fund charges you to manage the fund and pay for trading.<BR/><BR/>This comes right out of your fund earnings and can be a big drag on your overall performance. The fund manager would have to beat the market by more than the typical 2 to 3 percent mutual funds charge to come ahead of an Index fund with a low MER. <BR/><BR/>This is typically hard to do. Some fund managers might have a lucky year and beat the street by a wide marging but eventually everybody gets hauled towards the mean stock market performance over time.AndrewJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04813082701244060724noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post-33989307460057386232007-09-19T08:12:00.000-07:002007-09-19T08:12:00.000-07:00This maybe astupid question but what is MERThis maybe astupid question but what is MERUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17805237811069377808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post-43814748209673690912007-09-18T21:30:00.000-07:002007-09-18T21:30:00.000-07:00I went to the TD bank today and the guy tried to s...<B>I went to the TD bank today and the guy tried to sell me some pretty frightening MER funds.</B><BR/><BR/>Right bank, wrong fund. The TD e-funds have criminally low MER's. Last time I checked anyways. While you wait for financial guidance, I don't think that you can go wrong with low MER index for the "risky" portion of your portfolio.freakohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06236681769619303395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post-80135944872167426422007-09-18T21:10:00.000-07:002007-09-18T21:10:00.000-07:00Thanks for sharing those personal details. If ever...Thanks for sharing those personal details. If everyone was like you, well we'd have no liquidity crises, and Opra's would have trouble filling her show. On that topic, has there been any major sob stories covered yet. We often mused about VHB's Oprah moment, which at one time seemed so far away. Strangely, Vancouver must have found the immunity idol. Best of luck, Mohican, for you and yours.freakohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06236681769619303395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post-34353417889799784922007-09-18T18:52:00.000-07:002007-09-18T18:52:00.000-07:00Well I am feeling a little weary of this current r...<I>Well I am feeling a little weary of this current real estate discussion and financial markets appear to be apathetic to the current risk climate so I thought I'd stray a little from the debate and the analysis to do a post about myself.</I><BR/><BR/>Great post mohican. I am especially in agreement with your first line regarding weariness with discussion. <BR/><BR/>Your post answered a lot of unasked questions, and stan asked some good questions that I also have had in mind. What <I>to</I> do beyond GIC's, etc. that doesn't involve risking the capital? If I was greedy and irrational, the answer would be day-trading gold and oil or such, but I am neither.<BR/><BR/>Right now my nut is at one of the big banks "high interest" savings acct. at a better rate (3.75%) than their one year cashable GIC. I know ING offers 4%, but I am leery, and just don't need the hassle. I don't like the idea of "bundled funds" either - for ethical reasons, as well as the more obvious ones around the whole sub-prime fiasco.<BR/><BR/>aleks - great link.solipsisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11585532276216559502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post-22718489608738327522007-09-18T14:27:00.000-07:002007-09-18T14:27:00.000-07:00"Having come out of that experience I wanted to he..."Having come out of that experience I wanted to help other people realize that they do not need to be slaves to their finances and that they could take control of the situation by implementing 3 simple steps:"<BR/><BR/>I'd actually simplify that to <A HREF="http://digital-luddite.com/index.php?rantenzahl=8" REL="nofollow">one step</A>.Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10104704096049638272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post-30725323781106778622007-09-18T11:58:00.000-07:002007-09-18T11:58:00.000-07:00Mohican,Really interesting to read about you after...Mohican,<BR/><BR/>Really interesting to read about you after following your blog. <BR/><BR/>(good work on the blog by the way, v enjoyable though I rarely post, I read avidly)<BR/><BR/>Since you reveal yourself as a non commisioned financial planner, how about some impartial advice for us working stiffs on how to get some financial advice.<BR/><BR/>As one anonymous man to another, how would you recommend I go about getting some fairly impartial financial advice. I went to the TD bank today and the guy tried to sell me some pretty frightening MER funds. They have returned 89% in 10 years (very poor I felt) and all had negative returns for the last month (he has no real idea why this was when questioned).<BR/><BR/>How about a post from you detailing how to get good advice and what to whatch out for (ie when they are selling you stuff for the commission and when they are genuine (not easy to discern). <BR/><BR/>A lot of the bears reading here (and a lot of lurkers like me) have sizable chunks of cash that we have in GIC's etc and it could be better working for us.<BR/><BR/>I personally am in GIC's till the spring then I will see where to stuff it all.<BR/><BR/>Where do I get a christian with a concience as my Financial Advisor rather than the Capitalist used bond salesman I had today?<BR/><BR/>Great Post,<BR/><BR/>Stanstanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05264956514996264063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post-11759798744382678642007-09-18T11:57:00.000-07:002007-09-18T11:57:00.000-07:00I have a diploma in General Business Studies, an A...I have a diploma in General Business Studies, an Advanced Diploma in Management Studies and a Bachelor of General Studies. <BR/><BR/>I also have taken several financial industry training courses including the Canadian Securities Course, Personal Financial Planning Course, Mutual Funds Licensing, Insurance Licensing and my Certified Financial Planner designation. Ongoing learning is important in the financial industry.<BR/><BR/>I am still considering becoming a Chartered Financial Analyst but I'm going to wait on that decision for a while.mohicanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06094213357140749289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31427364.post-35116732540952734262007-09-18T11:41:00.000-07:002007-09-18T11:41:00.000-07:00Did you go back to school or did you have formal t...Did you go back to school or did you have formal training in finance. I ask because I am an accounting student but I also have an interest in finance. I have read a lot about budgeting and am starting to learn how to spend and save. I used to be house poor but have sold recently and am attending University. Any advice on becoming a financial planner would be helpful.<BR/><BR/>Thanks,Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17805237811069377808noreply@blogger.com